


Constitutionalized

by Bj_Freeplay



Category: Avengers, Avengers (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Spoilers, Civil War (Marvel), Gen, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Team IronMan, not a fix it, pro Accords
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-10-04 22:39:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10291826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bj_Freeplay/pseuds/Bj_Freeplay
Summary: The bombings were getting more and more chaotic by the day and their speratic nature seemed to force down some hard truths.Highly unstable Extremis in impossible amounts were being used and the perpetrators both seemed to know exactly what their doing, and yet.... not?There was more to this than what meets the eye.Even after his time began to run down onto the wire Tony couldn't seem to piece together why these catastrophies were happening and after Thor returns from a most unsavory trip back home things only get worse.It was time like these when hours were wasted staring at a stupid ancient phone in the bottom drawer and a crumpled up letter that only made Tony feel worse.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Wooo first chapter to my first story on this site! Awesome! Great! I have no idea what I'm doing! It's fine, here we go!
> 
> Don't hesitate to critique and give me some juicy constructive critisism. There's nothing more a young aspiring author such as one's self could wish for. Except for maybe a favorite if you really enjoyed my work. 
> 
> Thanks a million! Now then, go enjoy

It had taken four consecutive surgeries for Stark to stabilize. James knew he should feel something after everything they'd went through.. after everything they'd lost. He knew he should feel anger for his legs, but he wasn't sure who to direct the anger at so he accepted the pain instead. He knew he should be happy that Tony was still alive, but looking at his face... the bruises and the scarring cuts, there was only exhaustion and curiosity. Yeah Tones, his Tony, was alive, but at what cost? He knew there should be rage when he looked at his brother's hands, because this changed everything. This could end Tony forever, but this was also Tony Stark Rhodey was thinking of. He wouldn't let Tony fall, so all those hands brought was more pain. When he thought of the team... well, it made him want to shut down instead of think so he tried to avoid that subject entirely.

He wanted there to be anger boiling and stewing inside of him. A fury so uncomplicated and simple that he could just hate every one of those monsters who'd abandoned the very people they'd sworn to protect, but he couldn't. There was only pity for those who couldn't think for themselves. So, right there and right then, all he wanted was for his little brother to wake up.

Pepper had come to visit multiple times, but having both Rhodey and Tony in the same room at once was too much for her and she often left soon after arriving. She, unlike him, did have an unkempt flame that'd been eating away the longer her ex-boyfriend slept. She'd taken to the 'books' finding every means possible to ruin the Captain and his team. She'd legally shutdown every weapon Tony had given them remotely; she'd began to research the accords religiously along with every past event since Rogers came out of the ice; she'd even gotten into contact with Hope Pym and Charles Xavier to destroy the any way the team could come back with out any coniquences. Rhodey sighed tiredly... how does she do it?

"Hey?..."

Rhodey almost flew out of his wheelchair, "Tones?!"

"W-... water?"

Right! That was a thing, "I got it! Don't even worry about it."

When Tony had come up to breath he forced at smile, "Bendy straw?"

"Just like you like it."

They were silent as Rhodes drank in the sight of Tony with his eyes opened again. He knew it'd only be a matter of time before their delirious innocence vanished again behind exhaustion, pain, and sadness... just like his own had.

"Only Pepper, Happy, and Vision have been in here besides myself. We're keeping your location and condition as secretive as possible from the rest of the world. You've only got one nurse who's got a lawsuit risk if any information gets out, courtesy of Pepper, and your usual doctors were the only ones allowed in your medical wards and while you were in intense care."

The response was none committal and then, "How long?"

"Which part?"

"All." He coughed.

"Uh... you were, uhm- gone for over seventy five hours. You've been in intense care for four days... you got admitted into this private ward yesterday morning. Vision hasn't told anyone about how he found you, which means it was bad- Tones?"

Tony had, at this point, noticed his hands. His eyes were empty... apathy couldn't describe his face when Rhodey had grabbed his shoulder supportively. There were no words that could be expressed between the two as the full brunt of their situation finally set into their hearts. All Tony could do was laugh until any emotion on his face dissipated into a void of numbness.

"We're a set now Rhodey... we- we're one hell of a mess aren't we?" James' heart ached worse than when the news of his legs were given to him. He pulled his friend into a tight embrace and refused to let go when Tony stiffened like he hadn't in years. Slowly- oh so torturously slow- Tony melted into Rhodey's arms and brought his own limply around his brother's shoulders. His head nestled into Rhodey's chest naturally and the two broken men wished that the world could just end in that moment. No women to break their hearts; no friends to stab them in the back or hurt either of them; no government to remind them of mistakes; no press to watch them like hungry dogs... just them two in a broken world that didn't need to be fixed by them.

Then the door opened and the world went on.

"Dr. Stark Co. Rhodes," Christine nodded politely at the two men as she entered.

"Dr. Palmer! I was expecting one of the others... are you here to do the final review?"

She looked at the Colonel and nodded with a carefully created blank face. She faced Stark before talking, "Dr. Stark you have sustained some terrible wounds in all my years of medicating you, but never in my life did I think lack of water would be your final cut. You got very lucky. Your chest was badly bruised from repeated abuse in a small span of time; you were concussed in two consecutive places that were easily seven hours apart; you had a heart attack called takotsubo cardiomyopathy due to excess positions in which you were forced into too much stress for you body to handle. At this point I shouldn't have to explain to you why this is high unhealthy for your already delicate heart, so I won't insult you intelligence. Your left radius was fractured and your lateral epicondyle was replaced with a metal prosthetic. Four of your ribs were shattered in a similar fashion and your prosthetic sternum had to be replaced; how you didn't puncture your lung until we moved you ourselves was a miracle in its self. You've sustained severe frostbite in both you hands and for some blessing from God reason only mild frostbite in both your feet, ears, and nose. While all your mild areas have a full chance at recovery, well, clearly we couldn't save all your fingers... Im sorry but protocol for you means I must-"

"I've completely lost my middle finger to the proximal phalanges, my pinky to the metacarpals, and ring finger to the carpals on my right hand and my middle finger to the carpal and pink down to metacarpal on my left." Tony said it automatically. His face was painfully blank.

All she could say back was, "Yes" before her words went gruff. She's seen two men handle losing their hands, but she preferred the anger to the emptiness and apathy Tony seemed to have any day.

 

3yrs later**

  
"General I fail to see why that's a good idea. Sending Romanoff this soon after her probation period from her last solomission doesn't seem like the safest action. Why not send Ms. Walters or Ms. Marvel?"

"I understand Senator Leroy, but she's our best asset with this co. op mission. Jennifer and Ms. Marvel are far more useful to us in immediate threats at the moment with tensions so high, like Dr. banner or Thor. She's been reprimanded accordingly and isn't getting off for her mistake as easily as you'd assume I have, but Blackwidow is the only person on my team I believe in enough to recommend for this job with out feeling they're going in way over their head."

"We'll need to have this discussed, especially with the circumstances of the last events still so tender in many Frenchman's memories."

"Naturally president." Tony felt small and sick and was silently clicking his fingers against his pants as he stood in front of the UN committee.

"¿A quién recomendaría si Madam Romanoff no está aprobada?"(Whom would you recommend if Madam Romanoff isn't approved?) Senator García was resting her chin on her wrists with curious eyes resting on Tony, "¿General?"

He gulped but did't let his iron pose break, "If Lady Hulk needs to go I can offer her, but with her cousin back in town she's using her two week vacation. I can't actively request for her leave her break with out offering a mandatory extra week after she returns. And I'll repeat that she is still a better asset close to the rest of the team."

_And Jennifer will murder me if I don't at least try to make sure she can stay home._

President Weber's accent shined through ever so slightly, "Thank you General, we'll get back into contact with you in the morning if we approve Ms. Romanoff. If she is please send her to Islamabad immediately. She'll meet Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the location disclosed last meeting. You are dismissed."

"Thank you sir."

  
Rhodey patted Tony's shoulder after the door closed, "Lets get home."

"This whole fiasco from the bombing in Vienna is a mess. How are we supposed to fix this if we don't even know who did it? People seem to only remember three years ago... RhodeyBear I'm breaking!"

"Yeah, well, that's true so let's try to forget thinking about it for like five minutes of our lives okay? Anyway, I can see why they're so hesitant to let Natasha back in on solo missions. A senior senator died."

Tony huffed and held the door for his friend, "Except that she has been on probation for four months and she and Jennifer are my leads in anything that involves paperwork. No one was prepared for there to be a shoot out, that hadn't been the goal. She got civilians out and I couldn't reprimand her too severely for that."

"People died and one of our own were there, it looks bad of our record."

He growled but nodded in agreement, "Can't argue with that... Go claim shotgun Darlin' because I'm driving."

"When do you not?"

"Get in the car Sourpatch."

The compound came into view forty minutes later. Building after building flashed by as Tony sped past. Out in the back next to the landing pad was a small mansion like house. They parked out front and neither said a word when the doors opened.

"Welcome back boys, how'd it go?" Laura walked over to the men and kissed both their cheeks.

"Might be for the best if you get Jennifer and Natasha in my office." Tony sighed tiredly, "We won't know the verdict until tomorrow morning." He held back a sarcastic comment and instead let his eyes roll to the ceiling.

She nodded, "Peter and Carol left a few minutes ago with Stephan. I think he was going to show them a few tricks but didn't want to be interrupted by any of the children." Laura walked into the living room and grabbed a stack of papers from the coffee table, "Peter finished reading, editing, and signing his accords papers by the way; wanted me to hand it over if you got back before them."

"It hasn't even been forty eight hours since he turned eighteen. Knowing him he probably went over board and color coated every term in the book."

Rhodey grabbed the stack from her and started to grin stupidly downwards, "He made a key for all his highlighter colors!"

"Called it!"

Laura grinned, "Oh, now _who_ could have thought he'd do such a thing?!"

Tony threw up his hands, "Clearly not me!"

"Yeah, well, I'll be the one to look through Spider-Man's paperwork then while the good _General_ goes and does what he does best. Beg."

"Of really Rhodey Bear? We playing that game? I could mention how your my wingman, but I'm a grown man with some standards. Also, if you want my title that badly, Lt. General Rhodes, you can have it. God knows I've never wanted it." Tony muttered walking away from the two.

"The kids'll be home from school in two hours! Don't forget uncle Tony promised to have a movie night with them today!"

Tony just pulled a thumbs up and kept walking.

He listened to the metallic clicking as he tapped his fingers together furtively. He walked to his office slowly and let his mind wonder, recapping the last ninth eight hours since the last bombing began. It started with Seventy two killed and over three hundred injured in time square when the ball dropped New Year's Day in Vienna. The explosions had caused mass chaos as debris from the destroyed buildings fell. No knew who did it, but from the evidence left at the crime scene it was clear inhumans were involved. The job was sloppy, almost looking like it was activated on accident, but the bombs had been perfectly set for both fear tactics and to cause actually calamity. Stark industries personally fund any privately owned small scale shops that had been damaged, and helped fund the rebuild for times square and the newyears ball. Every one thought that that might be it, but six days later a similar bombing occurred in Afghanistan. Luckily the people had been evacuated for a mandatory bomb shelter drill earlier that morning and no one was in the city when the most localized area was wiped off the map. Next came in Birmingham with the death and injury toll still rising as they were currently clearing the rubble. The World was on its toes; these people didn't seem to care whom it was they wanted to kill and it was clear by that point that unstable extremist was involved in everything going on. People were scared and the threat was becoming international quicker than anyone had anticipated. The Avengers needed an international representative that people could look at and feel connected to. Tony Stark was respected by the world, yes, but they already had him visibly on the case, what they needed were women like Jennifer and Natasha. Women seen like Pepper, respectable and fighting in a man's world with success. They could play the system with out any one realizing they had a royal flush up their sleeve even though they clearly didn't need it. People needed to see control, and Tony was the very definition of controlled chaos. He had a dexterity for knowing exactly what he was doing and everyone realizing it, yet them still not seeing the full polarity of the situation like he could. He saw and understood both sides of the chess board and could play six games with the same tenacity and vigor with out breaking a sweat. While that did astound the common minded (and let's get real here even people like Reed!) it also felt spontaneous in ways that it wasn't. Tony needed to get his team in a position where the Avengers DIDN'T look like that. So that was why he was opening the door to his second lab (his office that slowly began to fill with enough trinkets that he couldn't even deny it to Peter's face anymore) and sitting down in his incredibly comfy- excuse you Ms. Potts- spinning chair to wait on two of his members to get their tooshes in there to start talking. He needed one of them to help back at the tower with Hope who had already been assisting with any and every ounce of her CEO grandeur. Tony didn't know what he'd have done if he had to send both of them off to the conference this weekend. _Politics sucked_. (He could practically hear Pepper rolling her eyes and muttering "Duh")

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in Jennifer!" The lawyer lightly opened the door and walked in still garbed in her jacket and pencil skirt. Her hair was tied in a messy and tightly knit bun of moss green hair that she seemed to be battling in a way that was vinous to a cat attacking a ball of yarn.

"Was it so important that Rhodey had to wait by the door for my to come to you the second I got home from work?" She had her shoulders confidently broadened, but her more comfortable ease was beginning to melt into her form as she strode across the room, "Also it astounds me that you can hide so many toys in this room with even me forgetting how crazy it is in here. If I didn't know better I wouldn't have even noticed that freeze ray in the window sill."

Tony shrugged and kicked the chair from under the desk, "yes it was incredibly, astoundingly, and I guess abruptly important for you to show up, also that's a gamma radiation analyzer and -in the process of being- stabilizer. Didn't you hear it pinging when you walked through the door?"

she glared half heartedly at him in a attempt to hide amusement.

"Anyway! have a seat, we're waiting for Romanoff."

"That's a first."

The door swung open.

Jennifer rolled her eyes, "Speak of the devil."

Natasha decided she was above responding and instead sat down beside her cohort, "What do you need Boss?"

"Alright ladies, tomorrow morning one of you is going on a trip to Pakistan!" He began the long explanation and felt a twinge of guilt when realizing he'd be late for movie night.


	2. Four to a meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pardon the ellipsis, I apologize if it kills the mood but I don't swear... like, at all. By choice. It's kind of difficult for me to write Tony because of his language, how ever I will be pushing my self past my comfort zone so to use as few ellipsis in the story as possible. I hope you can respect that my own personal standard will only be pushed so far before I can no longer force myself to write specific words.
> 
> I don't own Marvel sadly, but I did get a lot of inspiration for my story from both "Nobody's Heroes" by boleyn13 and "Justice is truth in action" by Fritti13 and izumi2, thank you all for being such inspirations for me to want to post my own work again. 
> 
> Any recommendations for me to write or errors that I failed to correct I plead with you not to hesitate to correct me with a comment. 
> 
> Thanks a million! I hope you enjoy the chapter.

  
Tony walked slowly into the theater room and the booming movie went silent as one of the kids paused the film and turned on the light. Cassie crossed her sassy little legs and glared up at him. When he saw Sasha and the mini agent practically mirror her seconds later a grin threatened to break his tired exterior.

"You're late." She didn't look happy.

Doing his best to look as guilty as possible (which Tony'd never admit wasn't exactly that hard) words formed, "Sorry boss, got caught up in boring adult stuff. Am I allowed in the castle?"

An adorable huff escaped her lips as she turned to look at Lila and Cooper in seek of the "big kid's" approval. Lila's look was patronizing, and after thinking for a second and eyeing where he normally sat she said, "You have to sit with all of us instead of the corner this time."

With a defeated sigh he walked into the room (fake) moodily and plopped right down on the center leather beanbag with out any real argument. _He_ _was_ _just_ _so_ _tired_... _arguing_ _wasn't_ _worth_ _it_. Nathaniel was the first to drop his fake scowl and unlocked his legs, he quickly ran to his uncle and climbed into the open lap screaming the toddler's name. Lila and her brother shifted into the upper chairs to sit above the rest of the group; they both rest their chins on each Tony's shoulders respectively (and that did NOT make his ulcered stomach ease!.. nope, not at all), he almost laughed. Sasha ( *cough* Keener mini) and Cassie sat beside him and tugged at his arms so they would rest on the girl's shoulders and their tiny bodies could lean into his strong torso on either side. Sasha smiled sweetly as she played with his mechanical fingers in the way only she could do with out him getting extremely uncomfortable and his body seizing up. He loved these kids.

"So then, Starwars marathon tonight I guess."

One of the chins pressed into his shoulder tightened and Cooper's voice said, "You know it."

After a scramble to find the remote and fixing their positions, Cooper un paused the movie and dropped the popcorn bowl down into his little brother's lap. About forty minutes in on 'Emperor Strikes Back' Peter and Carol slipped into the room and pulled the younger girl's into their laps so they could sit next to Stark. In a way that was unctuous for him, Tony pulled both teenagers into his previous embrace. Neither fought against him as their bodies moved to rest against a strong chest or when their heads connected to the two children's above them. Peter breathed a sigh of relief when he felt the tension in Tony's body settle slightly.

When Laura and Maggie snuck into the theater to pick up the kids a few hours later and saw the small horde of kids toppled all over their exhausted friend, not a single one awake enough (or at all) to change the film from the rolling credits, they both had to walk out holding back relieved laughter. Rhodey made sure to snap a photo before the women untangled the pile of limbs cuddled together and by the end of the week a fully developed photo was proudly stuck on the fridge.

After two weeks of no one moving it the photo became as one with the fridge door.... and maybe a few others that had accumulated with every one over the years began to fill the tiny metal corner as well.

****

The argument had lasted a good fifteen minutes until Stephen suggested to just scrap the entire process and try to see if talking to the UN about their initial arrest in the first place would be permitted so they'd get more information.

  
"Yeah, uh yup, but that isn't gonna work Stephan King!"

Dr. Strange raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me? Why _ever_ not?"

"Because we have a million paraphrased quotes on that little white board the King of the jungle decided to bring- remember that thing? Yeah I forgot to, it's cool- stating specifically if we wanna call off a charge we're allowed to call a defense appeal. Besides that how ever it wasn't the UN that arrested them, it was Ross illegally detaining them. They didn't sign the accords, thus the rule didn't apply to them, their right to trial hadn't been taken," Tony swung around in his chair a little while clicking a pen against his teeth in thought, "The issue about this isn't about getting thrown under the sea into vibranium cells with out an appeal any more either, thank you to the Professor for that.... It's that-.... Well except why isn't that going to work? And how would we get it approved? And by we I mean me and King Kitty. I mean, obviously that'd fix the problem with the whole loophole thing that could be used against us."

Looking up from his journal T'Challa felt confused, "Wait a moment, I am almost positive I didn't leave this conversation as I was writing. General I believe you lapsed out of speech again."

"It's Tony, don't call me that T'Challa."

Ignoring the retort completely Charles spoke, "He's thinking about the right way to approach the inclination of refusing offered jobs with out your natural rights being ignored."

"... Okay so we've changed topics then."

"Keep up buddy boy!"

"We don't all have telepathy, let alone the right to actually access your mind at specific moments in time Tony..."

"Hush Stephen, you're here for the magician input not the politics of everything else."

He rolled his eyes, "Right right what ever you say goatee man,"

Stark snorted, "Hypocrite."

"Boys please."

"Alright, so what does 'open appeals can be displayed if any inquisition is directed towards the evidence of unfair immediate punishment onto any inhuman, mutant, or other form of being referred to as 'hero' without their right to a trial.' have to do with loop holes and days off?" The King looked honestly curious instead of sarcastic. Tony almost felt surprised.

  
The four men had been revising some of the more universal regulations in the accords since Natasha left a week and a half ago. They had all reserved these three weeks to have day long meetings to go over everything with out any of them being called out on a regular basis (that mostly meant Tony, Charles, and T'Challa, but even Stephen had been busy these last few weeks after one of the Guardians had gotten killed in the first bombing). Obviously the planning hadn't gone perfectly and they'd had to cut a few meetings short, but for the most part they were all about as stressed and exhausted as they'd knew they were supposed to be by now... so Tony guessed that was a good sign.

They'd talked for over twelve hours that day and none of them had had a dinner break yet. They might have been a bit cranky, but they were functional, so Tony didn't hold his brain back when he began to explain his thoughts. If they could find a way to add some more quotations toward the more small time heroes and individualize their work a bit more it'd be easier to work with if they ever needed to go to court for almost any reason that wasn't in their favor. People like spider-man before he officially joined the Avengers would benefit from this as well and that was exactly what the point of trying to fix some of the uglier parts of Accords was for. As much as they _enjoyed focusing on the easy stuff, other wise known as 'team work'_ (Charlse had smiled so to Tony that counted it as a win, especially when Stephen had added a friendly jab after and T'Challa grinned at him fondly with a look that practically screamed "you idiot.") Daredevil wasn't trying to save the world, he just wanted to defend his part of the city. People like him shouldn't be called in world catastrophes and forced to join with out a voice. They also shouldn't be put through the wringer as if they were working as an organization, it didn't make sense. Adolescents and small time heroes shouldn't need to demask, get calls from the UN to go to debriefings, Jobs out of the country _let alone out of their part of their city_ ; that shouldn't be the standard of their rights. There were at least sixty specific parts of the Accords Tony could remember reading that held no relevance towards the smaller league heroes work.

Talking it over they agreed Charles was best fitted to help organize the more subjugated parts of the the Accords so they could all read further into how far plans like these were set into the document. If it was surface level (which it most likely was, "I mean come on they weren't covering up terrorist attacks with being "super heroes" like we have") they'd need to work more for general rights before digging into specifics. Charles might have had a team of his own, but he also knew the more solo acts than all three other men combined after all those years of teaching. He'd do the research personally and they'd draft the papers once they could afford to meet again.

About three more hours of detailing ideas and plans the men began to pack up for the day.

"So... the Vienna situation. Tony I'm guessing you're the one trying to persuade the UN that we're not involved with the inhuman theories. " Stephen looked up, "That's what Nat's doing right?"

Even though he knew it was coming the wrenching feeling in Tony's gut was still as over powering as every other time he had to talk about it. He sighed, "We don't need to persuade the government, thank God, but she is going to speak publicly for herself and I at the international peace and war declaration event in Pakistan this weekend. She's been our representative since she left."

"Ms. Romanoff has received the chance to represent as a senator there correct?" T'Challa closed his suitcase and stood.

"Yeah, she's been calling me around eleven every night to review some papers she wasn't comfortable signing in my stead." Another tired sigh, "This thing is a fu**ing mess, you should see some of the insurance papers she's had to sign."

Xavier sounded mournful, "Two hundred and thirty people have passed and we don't know whom it was that's done any of this. It's truly a international tragedy."

T'Challa stood silently by the door while Stephen looked like he was about to kick his chair, "It's like they're trying to goat the world into hiding behind their locked doors."

"... I'm not sure." His fingers clicked against each other as his pen spun from hand to hand.

"What do you mean Tony?"

He shrugged, "Its just that these Bastards set up bombs in Vienna time square and had those suckers blow in spots that killed over seventy five people and injured two hundred... They were also set up in back alleys miles away that only caught two or three people and killed no one, they weren't even a tenth as strong as time square's, but they were hella visible. Then the same thing happens in Manchester and Samangan, except that the Afghani town wasn't populated like the others were. No one died..."

"Yeah, there had been a mandatory evacuation because of a bomb warning from the out skirts. No one had been at time square as the bombs went off."

Tony looked at Stephen and pointed his pen at him, "Exactly, for such a brilliant set up its obvious these people are smart. The bombs are a strain of Extremis I've never seen before and I stabilized the stuff, so clearly if they can create the most unstable form that I've ever seen we should be impressed. It was only their second bombing so fear tactics is out, a fluke like that wouldn't scare people as much as another successful attack would. It'd make you look like an idiot and people don't get scared of idiots until they're own home gets wrecked enough to know it's not an accident."

Xavier understood suddenly, "So saying that the explosives were a fluke wouldn't make sense, if they're that smart it wouldn't be sensible to believe that they could make such an error. None of the actual explosions have any similarities beyond their locations."

"So?" Feeling his eyes narrow Strange muttered sickly, "Are you telling me there's two different parties we need to hunt down?"

"I don't know, but that's what it feels like," Head banging the way it always did when this topic came up, Tony rested his face into his hands and pressed his metallic fingers against his pounding skull, "but _why_? What's the motive? Where else are these bombs fu**ing set, who else is going to die? Vienna was awful, but Manchester is still pulling up bodies from the rubble. Who the hell is willing to kill so many people and not even try to milk the publicity for all it's worth?"

T'Challa's voice was only slightly above a thoughtful whisper, "And if it is two separate parties... how do they keep finding the bombs?"

All three men looked over at the king in silent agreement.

Every one jumped when one of the doors flung its self open, "Laura wanted me to grab you guys for dinner-!!.. Okay, major buzzkill vibe in here... I- I'll just go."

"It's cool Peter, we were just wrapping up anyway." Tony got to his feet and shook him self off silently before walking over to the teen to tussle his hair a bit.

"Tony-"

"Come on I'm starved." He stepped away as the kid's arm began to rise to smack the hand away. For once he was being honest, he hadn't eaten since lunch the day before (which was honestly an accident this time Laura!) and his stomach didn't seem to satisfy itself with a few dried raspberries the night before.

*****

"I got them Laura!" Peter ran into the room and jumped into his seat next to Carol. She swatted his hand away as he reached for a slice of bread on the edge of her plate.

Every one had already settled themselves in their seats by the time Tony and the other three had walked into the dinning hall. He took in all the empty chairs. Natasha's seat was pushed in and her black jacket that always seemed to rest on the left handle was gone, in a suit case some where in Eurasia. Carol had her feet propped in Thor's giant throne he insisted matched the rooms theme perfectly (much to the chagrin of Maggie)as she rattled on with Bruce who was sitting on the other side of the thunder god's seat. Jim, Maggie, and Cassie's neon stained seats were vacant leaving Laura and Rhodey across from each other next to the head of the table alone. Kamala and Harley's garishly colored chairs (which were a matching set with Carol and Peter's- they did it to their seats no matter how many times Maggie replaced them) were vacated and their life size body pillows Harley made so the team wouldn't "miss them too terribly while we're gone" seemed to have been duct taped to the back of the back supporters mulishly.

"If any one asks tell them it was Thor." That was all Peter had to say about it but Copper looked like he was about to burst out laughing.

"Nah, it was Sasha and Lila obviously."

"CAROL!" Sasha looked horrified, "I would never tape my big brother by the throat to a chair!"

Lila grabbed some garlic bread and muttered, "I would."

Cooper looked at his little sister a betrayed expression before every one laughed.

Tony noticed the yellow seat (that was Ms. Khan and Danvers' fault. When Kamala heard that Hope was the Wasp she and Carol couldn't help themselves. There was even a tiny cone at the bottom of the chair that looked like a big stinger) next to Kamala's chair was empty. Hope had called in earlier that day to tell him she was going on a date that night so her empty chair wasn't a surprise, though he was disappointed he didn't get to give her any reservations for some where nicer than Olive Garden. It was her first date since Lang...  _First dates were never my thing anyway maybe cheap food is all the rage for introductions now_.

Laura smiled at Professor Xavier, "Charles! Good to see you, every one in here is who'll be joining us tonight. You know which ghastly colored chairs are free for you to use."

"I take a offense to that!" The teens looked scandalized.

Tony plopped at the head of the table in his golden and black chair (it had red highlights that Cooper and Peter had added later after Kamala had left the room, she had been livid after finding out) and made a grab for some chicken cacciatore, "My chair is badass I don't know what you're talking about."

Carol pointed at him, "THANKYOU! Seee, daddy kins gets it!"

He winked at her and she grinned.

"Mine could have used more yellow,"

"Not this again Bruce."

He just shrugged and smiled, "I'm only saying..."

They let the hours slip by with meaningless banter and laughter that slowly dragged the four fatigued men back into their spirit bit by bit. By the end Rhodey had murmured in his best friend's ear, "And not even one glass of scotch required."

They had high fived with the proudest smiled. 


	3. So we begin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super late, life came like a wave wafted me away into a sea of life. I've finally swam back to shore, so here's the chapter. 
> 
> Review me! Constructive criticism is how an author grows.

When she got home the entry hall  
slowly lit up to a dim glow. She hung up her purse along with the small army of others on her hanger by the door and preceded into the house while tussling her bobbed hair a bit in exhaustion. She walked into the bottom level living room and plopped on to the couch.

"So, it went badly."

Hope jumped and whipped around to face her leader like a deer in front of headlights.

"Tony!" She gasped.

"Hey Waspy! Wasn't expecting you for another hour or two, shame it seems that staying the night wasn't even close to the agenda. I was hoping he'd come back with you and I could sick him with my iron renegade of merry men. I could have yelled to stay off my property and everything... oh well I'll just have to save it for one of my Ms. Marvels when they get a bit older and try to be Mrs. instead, anyway, why'd you even go on the date at all? We both know you haven't known the term "date" in almost four years. Seem a bit rusty to me for a thirty year old woman."

She looked into his tired brown irises, "Doesn't mean I can't try."

Stark stopped speaking.

She didn't say anything for a while, so they just sat there thinking.

"He shouldn't control you like this."

"It's not _him_ , it's my suit. I don't think I'm going to stop feeling so wrong until I get it out of his lying hands."

Closing his eyes Tony pat the sofa next to himself for her to sit. Hope obliged with out a second thought, "Yeah... Pepper might have shut them down, but my tech is out there with international terrorists, who in their eighth mind would be comfortable with that? But that's not your fault, _You_ didn't take the suit, destroy a German local airport, then run off for others to clean up your mess... You didn't abandon Cassie."

"We've had this talk before." She smiled painfully at him in remembrance of every other time they'd argued about this.

"You're right! I'm dading you," He sounded half sarcastic and half serious, "and I'll say it again, you ending it for your own sanity and out of anger was justified not rash. Lang's actions were his stupid choice, it's not your fault he decided to jump in with no conscious thought or asking a single question like any smart SANE human being would. The idiot was being an idiot, what a shocker! They tend to do that."

"I've been thinking about that...It's like you said last time, he ended us when he chose a stranger over family with out so much as a "hey, captain America needs me, bye!" I would have understood! I could have helped sort out everything, but he just ran off with out thinking AGAIN! I- I just... It was me who trusted him with the suit Tony. I get that I'm not at fault for not being okay with his choices, but he abused my belief in him," Hope shook her head in dismay, "And people have gotten hurt, he stole the suit I trusted him with and he became a terrorist. Especially through those escapades they used to make a while back, people are dead because of my trust..."

"Hey! That's not fair! No, if you're allowed to wallow in your self blame so do I, we get to share that guilt hon." He smiled sourly for a second before clapping his hands together, "Come, strength is for the day! At night we binge watch movies! I don't like thinking about this stuff aloud, makes my adrenaline over pump, changing topics. Come on. Indiana Jones marathon baby, lets go!"

Normally she'd be worried when catching sight of how sunken Tony's eyes were with their big bruised bags on full display. On a regular night Hope would have noticed how haunted his eyes were and sent him to bed,

"Ill make some popcorn."

Tonight she understood his face too much to muster the hypocritical thoughts to actually carry through.

*******

  
Tony sighed happily, the greenery seemed to be brighter now that the meeting was over and Natasha was heading home. Also, with the other half of his teen army officially on their last week in Australia, Tony couldn't help but release some of the cold in his body.

The agreement for the full escapade officially meant Tony could take his team any where in the 186 countries that had voted for accessibility. They didn't have to call in and request entry and they would finally be getting the information as quickly as the law-enforcements in the victimized country.

The entire meeting had gone very diplomatically, certainly more than what Tony had expected, and his pride for Natasha was bursting at the seems. She had taken every accusation thrown at her head on, not a trace of her venomous tongue to lie her way out of it all like she had tried three years ago. It had taken two years for him to really trust her in a way he hadn't before, but it was nice to really see that she really wasn't who she used to be. Natasha really did want to prove to him actively that she deserved the trust he was finally giving her after years of begging and "groveling".

Peter walked over to him loudly enough for Tony to come out of his mind and recognize his approach, gratitude swelled in a prideful way (that he still tried actively to refuse to admit to even Rhodey), "I just heard about Harley and Kam."

"Did you now? Did mama Red head or one of the aunties tell you while you Skyped earlier?"

"It was Tasha on the call, was she not supposed to?"

"Nah, you're cool."

He plopped down next to Tony and started rattling away, "Sweet because I'm happy Harl is finally coming home, we've been working on this suit- it's like super cool, electric blue and white, it's awesome- that can conduct electricity. When Thor comes back we wanna try it out! I'll be wearing it so don't worry Harley'll be fine! A-anyway, there's this trigger on the back that'll open up a latch for you to grab if I ever need to fly with you and you only have one hand. Uh- We wanna find a way to get the electricity to direct it's self towards the hands instead of the feet, but nothing we've found is light weight enough... I mean, I've been doing research since he left, but with MIT and Avengers and junk I've mostly been helping Jim with emergency precautions for the school instead. He's worried about if one of the bombings happen in NewYork sometime soon. Once Harley gets home though, oh boy, we'll be in the lab until the end of the week! We've been talking to be through skype about-"

Tony just let Peter's words soak in and nodded occasionally when the boy turned eagerly in search of approval.

It was nice to pretend he hadn't taken on so much responsibility every once in a while. Of course there was still that call he needed to make with those German.. forensic scientists? (He was pretty sure there was a anthropologist and pathologist in the group he met over that call the other week) As well as consult that bomb specialist that had been checking the crime scenes for Stark until that point. Those weren't for hours, however, and Tony was almost positive he just heard that two of his brats were planning on tearing apart his mark. 91 black zen suit! Oh hell no, that thing was too beautiful to fall prey to his lab minions!

He could sit back for a bit and argue with Peter about why the silver from his suit would look stupid in sheets if he was going to be wearing his titanium Kevlar suit design for a few hours.

  
********

The phone rang as Stark stared at the bottom drawer with a sickening feeling wrecking havoc in his gut. He spun away and turned back to his desk's glossed wooden counter to look at the caller id. _The private front desk line from the UN presidential office._ Great...

"Stark here, Diana, what's up? If you need maintenance on that stupid toilet again I'll repeat to you once again, no."

"Tony?"

"T'Challa?!"

"Listen Tony," he sounded urgent.

"I'm here, what's going on?"

"there was another one."

"Sh**."

*****

It was on international news two hours after the team had left port.

  
Another bomb, none dead (yet), but the collateral was bad. It had gone off in Mariupol Ukraine.

Tony had hung up the phone before he got the offer he knew would be coming at the end. His eyes darted towards the drawer again. _I don't need them._

His throat was dry.

The second he got off the call they were off. Jennifer, Carol, Stephen, Peter, and Bruce were traveling with him to help with damage control. Tony had contacted Natasha and and told her to meet them there directly.

As his group ran around preparing to deploy for Ukraine Tony had intercepted the entire team and opened a group call (even Kamala was wearing her headset while working on her project in the middle of class... Harley might have patched himself through to listen to the audio.)

Tony had stepped onto the landing pad with Strange and Banner, "Bruce first thing we're doing once we get there is checking out the bomb site."

"Got it Tony." Bruce brushed his friend's shoulder as he stepped into the jet.

Across the line Peter squawked indignantly.

"Peter you can tag along if you've done all the research I sent to you and finished the rest of your research paper, yes I do know you didn't start it until last night. Be happy this is a four hour flight or I would've just said no."

Laura walked on to the launch zone and saw Peter mope into the jet with his mask and lap top tucked under his arm. She rolled her eyes and straightened her ever professional pencil skirt, "Hope and I will wait for the news to go international and'll handle the public."

Tony, who had been looking inquisitively at her outfit nodded in realization, "Thanks, I owe you. They aren't fun to handle while flying..."

"Are they ever?" Hope chimed in through the comms.

He smirked slightly, "Rhodybear I need you here to handle the UN, you cool with that?"

"Only if you bring back a toy for me Tony."

"You're my savior Honey Bagger."

"I know, so don't do anything stupid okay?"

"No promises."

Jen gave Laura a quick hug before she dashed past Tony to sit next to her cousin.

"Boss?"

"Go Fri," Tony had stepped onto the jet as the last of his team boarded, and was waving at Rhodes as his best friend walked outside. He was glaring fondly at the billionaire. Turning around he scowled pointedly at Carol as she tried to sneak into the cockpit, "Buckle in until the light goes yellow guys, we're going to drive a bit over the speed limit."

"Imma drive this Puppy one day Tony, just you watch."

Rolling his eyes, Tony picked up the remote, "When I'm dead maybe; I don't want to see my team die because we let you behind the wheel." The tv screen transitioned to cameras pointed at Rhodes, Laura, Hope, T'Challa, and Harley with Kamala at their workbench working (theirs was a bit blurry... Tony made a note to upgrade university serveilence cameras when he got home).

"Ms. Khan is wondering if she is needed to assist in Ukraine."

He buckled himself as the ship lifted into the air, "Nah, they'll be freed from their little field trip in three days. Besides I don't want either of them on their own."

"Yessir."

"Alright guys," he waited until they stopped moving and actually looked at him ( _Peter_ ), "We're getting involved officially as of now. Nat's little speech made us public, but now a field unit is going to make the Avengers full time involved."

"You work on this enough to be full time anyway Tony." Jen stared pointedly at him.

He ignored her, "Children, no posing while you're cleaning. I don't want anymore titanic posed photos making front page of NewYork times."

Carol laughed.

"Bruce and I-" Peter gasped flippantly, pushing his hand over his heart, "oh quiet you, and MAYBE Peter will be checking out the bomb locations before we join you with clean up so Jen and Stephen are in charge. I want you two to find all the leaders for the organizations doing the heavy cleaning. Anything they need to bulldoze in order to lift smaller pieces, large chunks of cement cutting off people, anything a normal person can't lift is what your goals are to achieve first. After that's done we'll help with the search and rescue."

Jennifer nodded.

"You have any idea how bad it is over there?"

The tugging of the air craft lifting them swiftly into the sky pushed every one else's head back.

"We're going to wait to find out. It happened less than thirty minutes ago."

Carol looked surprised, "Wait, that's insane."

"Yeah, we're getting information now."

"No kidding."

*****

The craft was silent as Carol finished off her homework and the adults thought. Bruce, Peter, Jen, and Tony were playing poker

"Boss we'll be landing soon, might I suggest that you buckle back in?"

"Gah- I fold!" Jen tossed her cards, "That round was a complete disaster!"

Peter grinned and showed his hand Bruce gapped, "Straight aces! Yes!"

Bruce shook his head and dropped his and his cousin's cards into the box, "Nope! Go figure, when you learn from Tony you learn from the best."

"Bruce I had no idea you felt so strongly about me." Tony held his chest in fake awe.

"Don't get too attached, I bite."

"That's bad why?"

Peter snorted.

"Oh, and also," he showed his deck, "I fold."

Stephen laughed at Peter swearing, "A royal flush?! How?!"

He winked at the teen, "You don't know all my little tricks kiddo."

They buckled them selves in and the dissent began.

As they stepped out the plane all jokes were over. The men and women were put away and the heroes began their work.

"General, good to see you. Please follow me, I'll show you to the detonation zone... just a fair warning to you and your people, it's like nothing you've ever seen."


End file.
